BETHLEHEM – It’s the first stop on the Road to Hershey.

It’s also a chance for wrestlers to make a statement as the postseason gets underway.

Northwestern’s Luke Fugazzotto and Weston Killar, along with Northern Lehigh’s Cody Mazzocca, took full advantage of that opportunity at the District 11 tournament.

The trio earned gold in the Class 2A bracket, doing so in dominant fashion.

Fugazzotto had first-period pins in each of his four matches to claim his second district title, while Killar continued a stellar freshman season with two pins and a major decision to earn gold.

Mazzocca was equally impressive, posting a major decision, two pins and a technical fall in his four matches.

The performances highlighted a tournament that saw eight area wrestlers reach the finals in 2A, and a total of 18 wrestlers advance to next week’s Southeast Regional event with top four finishes Saturday at Liberty’s Memorial Gymnasium.

Taking care of business

The top seed at 172 pounds, Fugazzotto left little doubt he is primed to perform in the postseason.

The junior won his first two matches in under a minute, dispatched Lehighton’s Jacob Ferguson in 1:21 in the semis and dropped Palmerton’s Dillon Lombardi in 1:11 to win the title.

“I’m pretty proud,” said Fugazzotto. “I just have to come in here with a “get it done” mentality to go on to bigger stages like regionals and states. There are going to be a lot of hard matches there. So I just have to come and wrestle my best.”

It’s hard to argue Fugazzotto isn’t on top of his game.

A district runner-up, regional third-place finisher and state runner-up a year ago, Fugazzotto is currently 44-2, with 33 of those wins coming by pinfall.

“Just training knowledge,” Fugazzotto has said of what’s helped his progress. “Just knowing what I need to be doing in advance for these things again. Or just go off of the same things I did last year and build on that.

“It feels good. It sets a standard, too.”

Fugazzotto has set that bar high, and earned everything he’s gotten. Something he did again in the finals against a talented wrestler in Lombardi, who was seeded second.

“He’s a solid kid,” Fugazzotto said of Lombardi. “Just have to go out and work on my technique and be solid with my wrestling.”

Freshman phenom

Killar has been spectacular this season, and that continued over two days of the district tournament.

His first match ended with a 0:42 pin against Blayke Lacey of Pen Argyl. He needed 2:31 to defeat Executive Education’s Leonardo Gonzalez in the 114-pound semis.

The finals match put Killar, who was seeded second, against Palmerton’s Connor Messinger, the No. 4 seed.

It was the fourth meeting between the two this season, with Killar winning the previous three by scores of 6-2, 5-2 and 6-4 (TB).

Killar got the first takedown Saturday en route to a 12-0 major decision.

“I just had to go harder than I did each time before,” said Killar. “I just had to attach when I got my underhook. I haven’t done that in the past and I scored two takedowns because of it.

“I knew he was going to reach a lot so I just got an underhook every single time.”

It was also a heartwarming moment for the younger Killar with his dad and Tigers’ coach Joe Killar in his corner.

“It was very special,” said Weston. “I’ve looked forward to this since I was a little kid. And I finally got it done.”

It’s a moment that might take a little while to process for the elder Killar.

“I don’t know if it has,” Joe Killar said when asked if it had sunk in yet. “We tell the kids if you win or lose, it’s not the end of the world; it’s just a wrestling match. But I was really happy he won. I was just happy he wrestled well in the finals. That was a good match. After that first 30 seconds I thought he would be fine.

“He’s wrestled a lot of matches, but you’ve got to keep your composure and wrestle hard, and he did today.”

Dawg mentality

Mazzocca steamrolled to the 121-pound title as the No. 2 seed.

The senior defeated third-seeded Easton Edwards of North Schuylkill in the semis in 3:04 before earning a 17-1 technical fall in 3:46 to drop top seed Gabriel Baer of Saucon Valley in the finals.

“It feels really good,” said Mazzocca. “I worked my butt off these last four years and it paid off my senior year. This past couple of years, it’s kind of been stuck in my head that I didn’t think I would win it. But now I feel like, I put all the work in, I might as well throw it all out there on the mat, and it definitely worked.

“I’m definitely proud of how I won the matches. I feel like the first day went a little rough. To me, I don’t think I wrestled to my full potential. But it was good enough to win the matches.

“But today I came prepared. My mindset was right and it took care of itself.”

Seeing it come together for Mazzocca is something especially satisfying for Bulldogs’ head coach Scott Snyder, who has watched countless talented wrestlers come through a decorated program over the years.

“It means a lot to me,” said Snyder. “I’ve been coaching here quite a few years, and it’s probably one of the most meaningful district championships that I’ve seen as a coach. Cody’s progression has been outstanding. He didn’t have nearly as much success as he would have liked his freshman year, and then he came in sophomore year and we thought he would do a little bit better at districts but just didn’t have a good tournament.

“Last year, he had a much better season and going into the district tournament it was kind of more of the same thing, just in a deeper round. And this year he just kind of came in and walked through the tournament. All that hard work, it was there and it just paid off.”

Mazzocca was present and locked in on each match of the tournament, never looking ahead.

“I think in the past he would be hyper-focused on, ‘What if this happens? What if that happens?’” said Snyder. “Now he’s focusing on just the situational wrestling and wrestling one move at a time and one situation at a time, not really focusing so much on results. I think that’s been a big part of his progression and development. As his wrestling improves so does his mental state. And he’s just been doing an excellent job managing the two. It kind of all came together this weekend.”

In the finals

In addition to Fugazzotto and Killar, the Tigers also had both Colby Townley (145) and Nolan Koehler (152) in the finals Saturday.

Townley suffered a 12-7 setback to Pen Argyl’s Luca Albanese, while Koehler was pinned by Saucon Valley’s Jackson Albert in 0:39.

Palmerton had a trio of wrestlers in the finals. Messinger and Lombardi were joined by Dillon Anthony, who made it to the 160-pound finals.

For Lombardi, it marked the second year in a row he reached the finals.

“I think I had a pretty good tournament,” said Lombardi. “I wrestled well. The last one was tough. He’s just a very talented wrestler. It’s tough to lose in the final again my senior year. But I’ll come back at regionals and do better there.”

For Anthony, who was seeded third, the tournament was another opportunity to showcase the progress he’s made on the mat.

“I’m really proud of myself,” said Anthony. “Being a sophomore and being JV last year, it was a big step up and was able to do it. I did a lot of work in the offseason and it really paid off. I’m proud of everybody else, I’m proud of my team. It’s just a big step for us and we did really well.

“I would have liked a different outcome in the finals, but I wrestled tough and did my best against a tough opponent.”

After going 15-10 last season and competing at JV districts, Anthony is currently 27-11. He pinned No. 2 seed Austin Martin of Pine Grove in 1:07 in the semis.

In the finals, Anthony fell to top seed Cole Hubert of Saucon Valley by an 8-2 decision.

Messinger was equally impressive at 114 pounds. He knocked off No. 1 seed Gavin Chunko of Saucon Valley in the semis with a 5-4 decision before falling to Killar in the finals.

TOP TIGER(S) … Fugazzotto was named the Class 2A Outstanding Wrestler, while Killar earned 2A Coach of the Year honors to highlight a tournament that saw Northwestern place second in the team standings. “I thought we had a bunch of kids that can compete, and they’re starting to compete,” said Killar. “It was good. I think the start of something for the next few years. It was a good weekend. I thought we competed to our abilities so I was happy with that.”

MOVING ON … The following area wrestlers advanced to regionals with top four finishes: Lehighton’s Jack Lucykanish (3rd, 121), Lukas Croizier (3rd, 139), Jacob Ferguson (3rd, 172), Konner Nalesnik (4th, 152) and Marc Macias (4th, 285); Northwestern’s Vinnie Fugazzotto (3rd, 189), Chase Sukanick (4th, 127) and Jackson Bailey (4th, 215); Palmerton’s Derek King (3rd, 152); and Tamaqua’s Aiden Schlier (3rd, 127). Rory Dixon, who attends Marian and wrestles for Mahanoy through a co-op between the schools, placed third at 160 and also advanced to regionals.

TEAM STANDINGS … Saucon Valley won the team title with 242 points ahead of Northwestern (189.5), Palmerton (143.5), North Schuylkill (135.5) and Lehighton (131.5) rounding out the top five.

DISTRICT 11 WRESTLING

2A RESULTS

FINALS

107 - Carter Chunko (Saucon Valley) tech fall Owen Wolfgang (Tri Valley), 17-1 1:57; 114 - Weston Killar (Northwestern) maj dec. Connor Messinger (Palmerton), 12-0; 121 - Cody Mazzocca (No. Lehigh) tech fall Gabriel Baer (Saucon Valley), 17-1 3:46; 127 - Matthew Santoro (Saucon Valley) dec. Jarrod Blunt (Salisbury), 9-3; 133 - Aiden Grogg (Saucon Valley) maj dec. John Haubert (Palisades), 10-0; 139 - Collin Ramsay (Pen Argyl) maj dec. Hector Mateo (Saucon Valley), 12-2; 145 - Luca Albanese (Pen Argyl) dec. Colby Townley (Northwestern), 12-7; 152 - Jackson Albert (Saucon Valley) pinned Nolan Koehler (Northwestern), 0:39; 160 - Cole Hubert (Saucon Valley) dec. Dillon Anthony (Palmerton), 8-2; 172 - Luke Fugazzotto (Northwestern) pinned Dillon Lombardi (Palmerton), 1:11; 189 - Jared Rohn (Saucon Valley) dec. Kyler Quick (Mahanoy), 10-3; 215 - Cadyn Mcgraw (No. Schuylkill) dec. Nuallan King (Pen Argyl), 7-1; 285 - Jacob Ramos (Catasauqua) dec. Sander Stokes (No. Schuylkill), 7-6.

THIRD PLACE

107 - Isaiah Adams (Pen Argyl) dec. Magnus Monger (Williams Valley), 12-9 SV; 114 - Gavin Chunko (Saucon Valley) dec. Alex Deritis (No. Schuylkill), 9-5; 121 - Jack Lucykanish (Lehighton) dec. Gavin Hacker (Catasauqua), 7-6; 127 - Aiden Schlier (Tamaqua) pinned Chase Sukanick (Northwestern), 1:31; 133 - Xzavion Tennis (Williams Valley) dec. Jaxson Bruso (Tri Valley), 10-6; 139 - Lukas Croizier (Lehighton) dec. Aaron Osatchuck (Pine Grove), 6-3; 145 - Nate Sterner (No. Schuylkill) pinned Noah Hanlon (Tri Valley), 4:06; 152 - Derek King (Palmerton) tech fall Konner Nalesnik (Lehighton), 16-1 4:04; 160 - Rory Dixon (Mahanoy) tech fall Colin Crisswell (Williams Valley), 21-3 4:17; 172 - Jacob Ferguson (Lehighton) pinned Hunter Updegrave (Tri Valley), 2:09; 189 - Vinnie Fugazzotto (Northwestern) dec. Zachary Kurtz (Pine Grove), 7-2; 215 - Silas Day (Palisades) maj dec. Jackson Bailey (Northwestern), 11-1; 285 - Camron Green (Williams Valley) dec. Marc Macias (Lehighton), 1-0.

FIFTH PLACE

107 - Gaige Mentusky (No. Schuylkill) maj dec. Thomas Pasqueriello (Palmerton), 13-4; 114 - Blayke Lacey (Pen Argyl) dec. Leonardo Gonzalez (Executive Ed), 9-6; 121 - Easton Edwards (No. Schuylkill) maj dec. Ethan Miller (Tri Valley), 8-0; 127 - Josh Merkel (Palmerton) dec. Gage Cleary (Pine Grove), 5-2; 133 - Brody Schlier (Tamaqua) tech fall Aidan Ortiz (Palmerton), 23-6 5:00; 139 - Vincent Taglieri (Palmerton) dec. Justin Hetrick (Wilson), 10-8; 145 - Nathaniel Tone (Salisbury) dec. Braden Rohn (Saucon Valley), 8-4; 152 - Angelo Ziccardi (Palisades) tech fall Jah Bushati (Mahanoy), 19-3 3:56; 160 - Austin Martin (Pine Grove) pinned Mason Rothrock (No. Lehigh), 1:39; 172 - William Stoyer (Mahanoy) punned Bradley Whalen (Tamaqua), 4:21; 189 - Jacob Hehn (Tamaqua) pinned Maxwell Masser (Tri Valley), 3:34; 215 - Robert Schaeffer (Pine Grove) injury default Jackson Millen (Wilson), 4:35; 285 - Scout Frantz (Pine Grove) pinned Jackson Huber (Northwestern), 3:41.

SEMIFINALS

107 - Owen Wolfgang (Tri Valley) pinned Magnus Monger (Williams Valley), 2:30; Carter Chunko (Saucon Valley) tech fall Isaiah Adams (Pen Argyl), 17-2 2:31; 114 - Weston Killar (Northwestern) pinned Leonardo Gonzalez (Executive Ed), 2:31; Connor Messinger (Palmerton) dec. Gavin Chunko (Saucon Valley), 5-4 TB2; 121 - Cody Mazzocca (No. Lehigh) pinned Easton Edwards (No. Schuylkill), 3:04; Gabriel Baer (Saucon Valley) pinned Gavin Hacker (Catasauqua), 1:48; 127 - Jarrod Blunt (Salisbury) maj dec. Chase Sukanick (Northwestern), 13-3; Matthew Santoro (Saucon Valley) maj dec. Aiden Schlier (Tamaqua), 12-3; 133 - John Haubert (Palisades) tech fall Xzavion Tennis (Williams Valley), 20-5 2:23; Aiden Grogg (Saucon Valley) pinned Jaxson Bruso (Tri Valley), 0:53; 139 - Collin Ramsay (Pen Argyl) pinned Aaron Osatchuck (Pine Grove), 1:06; Hector Mateo (Saucon Valley) dec. Lukas Croizier (Lehighton), 7-4 SV; 145 - Luca Albanese (Pen Argyl) pinned Noah Hanlon (Tri Valley), 3:56; Colby Townley (Northwestern) tech fall Nathaniel Tone (Salisbury), 16-0 4:41; 152 - Jackson Albert (Saucon Valley) pinned Jah Bushati (Mahanoy), 0:29; Nolan Koehler (Northwestern) dec, Derek King (Palmerton), 5-2; 160 - Cole Hubert (Saucon Valley) dec. Rory Dixon (Mahanoy), 8-6; Dillon Anthony (Palmerton) pinned Austin Martin (Pine Grove), 1:07; 172 - Luke Fugazzotto (Northwestern) pinned Jacob Ferguson (Lehighton), 1:21; Dillon Lombardi (Palmerton) dec. William Stoyer (Mahanoy), 17-11; 189 - Jared Rohn (Saucon Valley) pinned Zachary Kurtz (Pine Grove), 3:42; Kyler Quick (Mahanoy) maj dec. Jacob Hehn (Tamaqua), 13-1; 215 - Nuallan King (Pen Argyl) pinned Jackson Millen (Wilson), 4:17; Cadyn Mcgraw (No. Schuylkill) dec. Silas Day (Palisades), 5-2; 285 - Jacob Ramos (Catasauqua) dec. Marc Macias (Lehighton), 3-2 UTB; Sander Stokes (No. Schuylkill) dec. Camron Green (Williams Valley), 5-1.